Onkyo TX-8020 2 channel Stereo Receiver

First off, when the UPS man came, I thought I was mistakenly receiving a small piece of furniture. Amazon put the regular Onkyo box inside a HUGE shipping container. The quality of the packaging was even better inside. I had bought and returned a similar (and defective) Yamaha receiver that was not packed nearly as securely and neatly as this one. Just rock-solid.And that's how to describe this unit. The thing is heavy but sleek, extremely simple to use, and it just screams quality. I am basically a TV and music guy, with the occasional movie. I resisted the temptation to get an AV unit because they're full of things I neither understand nor likely will ever use. I wanted a good stereo receiver with phono, banana inputs and a sub out. That's it. And there are very few on the market. This replaces a much-earlier Onkyo which, incidentally, is still going strong.In short, it looks great and sounds great. The Yamaha was just a bum one, very weak, especially with phono. Even though the Onk is rated at "only" 50 watts, it fills my living room just fine, thank you. As has been alluded to in other reviews, one sort of issue (and I know it's mainly psychological) is that I still haven't gotten used to how the volume attenuates. I'm accustomed to turning a knob to 10 o'clock and hearing the sound blast.Speaking of volume, there's one cool feature that I don't think is mentioned in the manual. When you switch the unit on, and before it actually powers up, it displays the volume level so you can crank it down in case you had it way loud last time.I do wish the remote was a bit bigger, but at this price (or even more), it's silly to carp. If you're looking for a simple but high-quality stereo receiver with a phono input, and you don't plan to fill a coliseum with loud sound, this is for you.

I'll confess, I'm an Onkyo fan. I had the TX-8255 Onkyo receiver, and happily listened to it for years. I then got the A-9010, and love that int/amp, and still have it. I've got a Schiit Vidar/Saga amp/preamp in my main listening room now, and it's more powerfull than the 9010, but the 9010 does sound more livelier and sweeter really, and I'm always thinking of putting the 9010 back in the main spot, and putting the Schiit system back with my computer, where the 9010 is at now. I recently sold my Onkyo TX-8255 to a friend that wanted something to hook to his big screen TV for better sound. Well I seen this TX-8020, which is an updated version of the 8255, and thought what the heck I can always use a receiver with a AM/FM tuner around the place, so I bought it, and at $119 it's a real steal. I've got it setup in my smaller computer room with a pair of NHT SuperZero 2.1 speakers, and it sounds fantastic. I'm going to get a pair of NHT SuperOne 2.1 speakers to go with it for a little more bass. In a smaller room the Onkyo 8020, and the NHT Zeros or Ones are a hard combo to beat. I tend to listen to music more in my computer room now with the Onkyo/NHT system. I plan on putting the 8020 in service with my computer, and using the 9010 with the NHT Ones as my extra computer room system, and it maight become the main system really, because I can get better sound in my computer room.Update 8-3-2019:I've got a pair of Elac UB5's hooked to the TX-8020. The Elacs are known for for needing a good amount of power to drive, but the 8020 is handling good so far. The Elacs are 4 ohm, and the 8020 is not rated for 4 ohm as far as I know, but I've got the volume is set at about 63, and the Elacs are playing pretty loud in my computer room which is 16x16. The top of the 8020 is getting pretty hot with the Elacs playing at high volume.Update 8-9-2019:Got the Onkyo TX-8020 hooked to a pair of Elac UB5's and a DOT 2nd gen that is hooked to the Onkyo with a 3.5mm to RCA splitter streaming amazon prime music, SiriusXM, and Spotify, and have Bluetooth from my PC going to the Dot to play audio from the computer. Man, what a Jukebox. Modern times suck in a lot of ways, but we got great music options. Love it!Update 8-10-2019:Just moved my TX-8020 to my computer with a AudioQuest Dragonfly Red DAC and Cambridge Audio SX-50 speakers, and it sounds fantastic. I have a Onkyo A-9010 integrated Amp that I had hooked to my computer, but it's sound quality is better, It's one hell of an int/amp. I moved the 9010 to the other side of the computer room with the Elac UB5's, and it handles the 4ohm Elacs better, and runs cooler. Don't get me wrong, the TX-8020 is a steal, and it sounds amazing. I could be totally happy with just the 8020, it's great, plus it has FM radio, and I get pretty good reception with it. If somebody asked me what stereo to get with the best sound for the best price, I'd say the Onkyo TX-8020 and the NHT SuperOne 2.1 bookshelf speakers. That'll give you a real Hi-Fi sound for not much money.

The Onkyo TX-8020 is an unusually inexpensive stereo amplifier, with only a small number of frills. I was able to get the machine up and running with only a few minutes of set-up time, where I plugged in my speakers, compact disc player, Bang and Olufsen Biogram TX2 phonograph, the AM antenna and FM antenna that come with the Onkyo receiver, and of course the power. Then, the first thing I did was pop in a disc featuring Schumann's Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, as recorded by Murray Perahia. The volume knob goes up to "80" and I found that a setting of about "70" did a great job at filling a living room of dimensions of 15 feet by 30 feet with abundant quantities of glorious sound!The rear of the unit has sockets for the AM antenna and FM antenna (which come with the unit), fasteners for accepting bare wires from two sets of speakers (I am only using one set of speakers), socket for CD player, and other sockets. The other sockets are for tape recorder, television, and subwoofer. The unit is only 17 inches wide, and thus can fit into stereo cabinets that are relatively narrow.The main reason I bought the Onkyo unit, is that my Yamaha RX-V363 has a slight glitch, in that if the volume knob is turned up higher than about 10% maximum, the Yamaha RX-V363 unit automatically shuts down. Another problem is that the Yamaha unit has a slight audio hum. The automatic shut-down feature of the Yamaha RX-V363 amplifier has been making me miserable for the past several years. Yet another problem is that I refrained from replacing the Yamaha unit until now, because stereophonic equipment stores are far less prevalent than they were during the1970s (when I was buying equipment from Nakamichi, Tandberg, Pioneer, Dual, and ADS). Also, it was not until a week ago that I discovered the Onkyo TX-8020 on Amazon.com. Of course, I'd seen other units available on Amazon.com, but the reviews of these other products were not particularly glowing.The next thing I did was place my vinyl recording of FINAL ALICE by David Del Tredici, featuring Barbara Hendricks with The Chicago Symphony, on my turntable. Again, the Onkyo TX-8020 performed admirably! In contrast, the Yamaha RX-V363 is NOT capable of accepting output from a phonograph, unless you purchase a pre-amplifier. And so, what I did was purchase an ARTcessories DJ PREII PHONO PREAMPLIFIER for use with the Yamaha unit. But the Onkyo TX-8020 is capable of playing vinyl on its own, and does not have any need for a preamplifier.Although I have experienced moments of happiness in the past ten years, in the past ten years I have never been so "sonically happy" as I am right now with my new Onkyo TX-8020. What a relief it is finally to listen to music at a reasonably loud level without the unit shutting down, without any hum, and without need for any preamplifier.SUPPLEMENT TO REVIEW ONE YEAR LATER. A year after buying the Onkyo receiver, I noticed that the ONKYO amplifier was spontaneously shutting down at high volume. Using common sense, I cut off an inch from the wire leads that were inserted into the knurled screw fasteners of my 35 year old ADS speakers. This totally fixed the problem. I was so happy, I spent the morning playing Mahler's DAS KLAGENDE LIED at full blast. But then, I realized that the problem with my YAMAHA receiver might have been oxidized or chemically deteriorated lead wires. I simply do not recall, whether it was or was not the case, 14 months ago that I had attempted to fix the YAMAHA shut downs by cleaning or trimming the ends of the lead wires.

Para substituir mi viejo Gradiente opté por éste amplificador que además es también sintonizador y creo que fue una buena compra, pues mas que todo quería un estéreo que se adaptara a mis otros componentes, sobretodo a mi tornamesa Technics y el resultado ha sido bastante aceptable: buen sonido, con tonos medios y bajos limpios y agradables. Y el precio pagado muy razonable. A todo esto habrá que agregar el tiempo de entrega y forma ajustado a lo estipulado.

Works perfectly. So nice to be able to play 6 discs without having to think about it. Great for parties or a night of great music for yourself. Recorded discs can last up to 6 hours, those purchased prerecorded about 3 hours

It's fine but the FM antenna is puny so weak signals have trouble

This is a good straightforward amplifier with all the features I need. Clear sound, good punch, doesnt distort.

Super. 100 % happy. Easy to install and control ! No problem nowhere ! 5 stars and more !Marc